The investor: Taka Buranda, 39, Chicago
The agent: Dan Nelson, Compass, Chicago
“I was looking for a multi-family building for less than $600,000 as my first investment in Chicago.”
Taka Buranda got serious about real estate the same way a lot of people do: his Chicago rent kept climbing, and one day he hit his limit. (We’ve all had that day.) But there was something else underneath it, too. A bigger, weirder question he couldn’t shake: What’s the point of life if you spend all of it working?
Heavy. Real, though.
“I’ve always had real estate in the back of my mind,” Taka says. “As I’ve stabilized my life over the past year or two, I finally put myself in a position where I could start pursuing it.”
Stability, for him, looked like income coming from a few different directions. Full-time job. Two small businesses. And a financial literacy initiative he founded for young people called Bag Talk Academy (which is a great name, by the way). With all of that working in the background, he wanted to put it to work in the foreground, specifically on a multi-family property that could offset his living expenses and start building real wealth. His budget: $500K to $600K.
Now here’s the part where almost everybody trips. Taka, like most first-timers, wanted the perfect property. Renovated. Turnkey. No work, no surprises, ready to go. He calls this, looking back, the “pipe dream.” And then, at some point, he did the thing very few people actually do: he gave up the pipe dream. He started hunting for buildings that needed a little work but offered serious upside.
His agent, Dan Nelson, clocked it immediately.
“Buying investment property in Chicago isn’t easy,” Dan says. “But the biggest thing that holds people back is their mindset. Taka made some really big shifts in how he approached the search.”
Option 1
Multi-Family with Potential in Portage Park/Dunning
This legal two-unit offered approximately 3,000 square feet with spacious rooms, flexible floor plans, and significant value-add potential. A three-car garage provided generous storage, and the property’s proximity to CTA bus routes and the Kennedy Expressway made commuting easy. The surrounding neighborhood also offered plenty of local amenities, including restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores.
Price: $499,900
Option 2
Turnkey Multi-Family in Albany Park
Located on a quiet tree-lined street in Albany Park, this move-in-ready property offered the kind of condition Taka had once assumed was out of reach. The legal two-unit also included a convertible in-law unit, creating the potential for three income-generating spaces.
One unit already had a tenant in place, providing immediate rental income and helping offset expenses from day one.
Price: $599,000
Option 3
This property was the most affordable of the three but came with notable challenges, including structural issues and water damage. The 3,125-square-foot building would require significant renovation.
Still, the multi-family layout, large yard, unfinished basement, and location in the increasingly popular Avondale neighborhood meant the property offered plenty of long-term potential for the right investor.
Price: $399,900
Which would you choose?
1. The Multi-Family with Potential in Portage Park/Dunning
2. The Turnkey Multi-Family in Albany Park
3. The Fixer-Upper in Avondale
Taka’s Pick
2. The Turnkey Multi-Family in Albany Park
For Taka, finding this property felt almost like fate.
“Honestly, it felt like divine intervention,” he says.
Unlike many of the buildings he had toured, this one required minimal work. He could move into one unit while renting out the others, creating immediate income while lowering his own living expenses.
Dan was especially enthusiastic about the building’s three-unit potential.
“I always encourage people to buy three units instead of two if they can,” Dan says. “It’s really hard to cover a mortgage with just one rental unit. That extra unit makes a huge difference.”
The existing tenant also helped ease the financial transition as Taka settled into ownership.
Taka and Dan initially offered $35,000 under asking price, and after negotiations and inspection, the deal ultimately closed $10,000 below asking with an additional $9,700 credit.
Even now, the experience still feels surreal to him.
“I still can’t believe this is happening. This is probably the greatest accomplishment of my life so far,” Taka says. “Teaching financial literacy has made me even more intentional about my own financial decisions. When you’re encouraging students to think about ownership and building wealth, you realize you have to practice what you preach.”
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